In The Rearview
by theytalktome
Summary: When John came home, everything was gone. Slash: JBL / CM Punk


**In the Rear View**

John kicked the door of his New York City penthouse apartment in; carrying his new "bride" in and setting him up on the counter. He took the veil back off and pushed it over his silky black hair. John had the flutter of butterflies in his stomach since the second he felt those pierced lips while standing at the alter surrounded by close friends and family...

Phillip "Layfield" always loved to watch the sun set over the New York City skyline. John really didn't care, it was just the sky, and just the city; he only pretended to care when they dated. He figured the scape reminded him of Chicago.

John Layfield was ignorant, selfish, a complete jerk. The only thing on his mind more than Phil was himself. Phil always suggested things they could be doing together. It wasn't that John had a problem being in public with him, he just didn't want to be out; he was too busy working all of the time. Phil sat at home in their apartment building, watching television or across the street at the gym. He was lonesome, but still the definition of faithful; and when John was home by nightfall he had dinner ready.

When they started dating they had been totally blind to everything that wasn't each other. John blew off as many things as possible that he "had to" do; when he couldn't, he brought Phil along: Phil was at every meeting, every event, every Fox taping. Every time John did so much as blink, Phil was there. He'd wake up early in the morning and take him for breakfast at exclusive restaurants, and the same for lunch and dinner.

Phil never had so many spa treatments done, and certainly not as many as John had, but he was closing the gap. After a cartoon one night there had been serious talk of filling their hot tub with money and sitting in it - god knows they had filled that thing with so many things. The repair man had a field day fixing the aftermath of their jello incident.

They did goofy kid stuff together, which completely included board games, Phil despised that John managed to have all the money in the end of the game too, and every last space had a hotel or something on it. They played words that didn't really exist with scrabble, horribly stupid mad libs, putting boobs on an etch-a-sketch. Hide and seek always ended with a football tackle and a touch down in bed.

John's jokes were horrible, but they made Phil laugh. John held him when he cried, and occasionally cried a long with him. They were mushy, romantic and sickeningly adorable.

Layfield glanced up at the barely visible moon in the rear view mirror. The fog never left the windshield no matter how many times he wiped it. Rain completely engulfed the car, road and vision was constantly cut off but John didn't stop driving. One wiper had worn out, and with the wind it wouldn't be long before it completely broke off; if it did, he would still keep driving like hell and swerving all over the high way. He couldn't care less.

His fingers couldn't search the numbers on his phone, calling every number he had; screaming at every last person for the whereabouts of CM Punk. He searched the city from sewer to skyscraper. He nearly crushed the device in his hands. He threw it on the passenger where Phil would sit, leaking into the drivers seat with arms wrapped around him and kisses distracting his driving.

John was about to punch straight through the steering wheel, through the dashboard and through the window. He screamed at his image that reflected back when the road became invisible by the endless heavy pillage of rain that turned the windshield and windows pure white for the longest time - he never stopped driving or thanking God that he was still alive. When tears fell from his eyes he was wondering why he was thanking God for not running off the road into a ditch and dying anyways. If he loved Phil enough to do this, he didn't know why he didn't love him that much all along - if he did, he wouldn't have left and he wouldn't have ignored Phil's threats that he would leave.

When he came home the house was empty of Phil's things. John couldn't believe that he would really walk out. He believed it now.

John called their boss direct, he cried hysterically on the phone to Punk's friends to the point that they had to tell him to calm down because they couldn't understand a single word. He found temporary salvation in The Heartbreak Kid but it wasn't enough to know what to do tonight, to pray it wasn't far too late to apologize and take the love of his life back home. Shawn didn't want to fill him with possibly false hope, but it was the only resort.

His hell raiser driving almost sent him into a tree when the rain cleared just enough for him to actually see it there. He hung up the phone at that point and stopped thinking about himself and thought more about Punk. He thought about where he would find him. He closed his eyes and pictured bringing him home, sitting him on the counter, his hands running through his long black hair, and admiring that crooked smile of his before kissing him a time or two.

JBL opened his eyes just a little too late before everything went permanently black.

**xxxxxx**


End file.
